Land Your Next Dream Role - Top Tips For An All Star LinkedIn Profile

Effectively increase your online presence and brand on LinkedIn

Whilst companies are crying out for skilled talent and there are multiple job opportunities across all industry sectors, it is still crucial to remain proactive and focus on your own personal brand and online presence.

LinkedIn is the prime platform for those seeking a new role. It’s also a place where Recruiters, Headhunters and Hiring Managers begin their search for new talent. Having a detailed and engaging LinkedIn profile as well as consistent activity can put you in a prime position for being approached by a recruiter or employer with relevant opportunities.

How confident are you with your own personal brand?

What does your LinkedIn profile say about your skills, experience and how you can add value to an organisation?

Our team of experts view thousands of LinkedIn profiles on a weekly basis giving them an in-depth knowledge of LinkedIn best practice. Consultants at CSG Talent support their candidates throughout the full recruitment and interview process.

Below are our top tips to consider and utilise to enhance your LinkedIn profile and presence within your network:

Profile Picture

Having a professional profile picture on your LinkedIn profile will increase your average number of profile views by up to 14 times. It’s important your profile picture is clear, with minimal distractions. It’s not essential for it to be a corporate headshot, but a professional photo that gives that all important first impression when a LinkedIn user lands on your profile.

Ideally a headshot so your face is recognisable, it puts a name to a face and should you meet in person at various stages of the recruitment process or networking events, you can be easily recognised.

If you can, take a picture (by yourself) with a relatively plain background, however there are multiple free apps and photo sites where you can remove a background from a photo, should you need to.

Headline

Your headline is what will allow you to stand out both on your profile and through LinkedIn searches. It’s important to get across your role and potential value you can add to a business, while keeping it concise so it can be easily viewed in a snapshot.

Consider the following structure when creating your LinkedIn Headline:

·        Your Job Title (If this is very specific to your organisation, think of a title which is more relatable and transferable)

·        Key skill/Expertise

·        Industry specialism you work within

Examples include:

Sales Director – Specialist in driving sales performance within the pharmaceuticals market

Marketing Professional in Automotive – Driving inbound leads and new automotive business customers

Specialist in Internal Engagement – Enhancing internal communications to increase productivity and support employee retention

A short and effective headline can help you stand out from others in similar roles and encourage a Hiring Manager or Recruiter to click through to your profile and make contact.

About Section/Summary

This is the section on your LinkedIn profile where you have free text and opportunity to demonstrate not only your skills and experience, but to also get across your personality, how you communicate and any additional areas you can add value.

Focus on some of the areas below in your about/summary section:

·        An overview of your career journey to date, current role and expertise, how did you end up on this path?

·        Are you working on any projects worth mentioning?

·        Can you highlight recent success or achievements that would demonstrate the value you can add to an organisation or contribute to business strategy, goals or ROI?

·        What do you love most about your role or the industry you work within?

·        Are there any CSR or internal projects/events you’re involved with?

Keep this section updated regularly and consider what new skills, experience or contributions you can update to enhance your profile.

Featured Section

Set your profile to ‘creator’ mode and showcase some of your work. This may not be relevant for all, however this can be beneficial if you have engaging content you can share such as articles, videos, podcasts, case studies or specific posts you have shared on LinkedIn.

Skills

To encourage other LinkedIn users to view your profile, including key decision makers, it’s important to list your most desirable skills on your profile. This will increase your chances of receiving a LinkedIn message by more than 31 times.

Throughout your profile it’s important to utilise key words most recognised in your industry and the type of role you do. The more key words and key skills you have on your profile, the increased chance you will have at being present in profile searches. It will also result in an increased number of premium LinkedIn job postings being shared with you as more job adverts match the key words you have displayed on your profile.

Explore job descriptions or adverts for your role, or roles you aspire towards and leverage key words from those into your own profile.

Endorsements and Recommendations

Once you have your key skills listed on your profile, encourage colleagues, customers or friends/family to endorse you for those skills.

Recommendations are a great tool to highlight your experience so reach out to those you have worked with and delivered successful outcomes and results to request a review or recommendation. Can you reciprocate and write a recommendation for them? Having a mixture of recommendations on your profile will help build your credibility and the perception of your ability to carry out a potential new role.

Engagement, Activity and Content

To both promote and develop your online brand, it’s important to not only engage with other content and interact with others on the platform, it’s also valuable to share your own content.

Staying active on the platform will help build your presence and demonstrate your credibility within the market you operate. The type of content you share will vary on your role and the industry you work within. Posting imagery, video, articles, quotes or encouraging conversation by posing questions to your network are all great ways to increase your activity.

Quote from James about LinkedIn – Advice to candidates etc about the importance of a great LinkedIn profile.

Utilising LinkedIn to gain the most value and results for building your network, presence and personal brand is important at any stage of your career. Whether you’re a C-suite level Board Director, VP or you’re a graduate early on in your career journey, having an all-star LinkedIn profile is essential.

If you’re keen to discuss potential career opportunities in the short or long term, please get in touch with our expert team. Our consultants operate globally across a wide range of industry sectors, not only having the knowledge and skills across the full recruitment process, but with in-depth knowledge of the market to effectively support your career growth.

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Contact James for a confidential conversation about your career growth: james.carlill@csgtalent.com.